The course of our lives follows ancient and immutable laws, with an ancient, changeless rhythm. Dreams never come true, and the instant they are shat….

You aren't ill: it is just that you are made of second-rate materials.

The true defense against wealth is not a fear of wealth - of its fragility and of the vicious consequences that it can bring - the true defense again….

The English have no imagination: and yet they do show imagination in two things - two only. In the evening-clothes worn by old ladies, and in their c….

No adultery is bloodless..

I begin to suspect that England is the most melancholy country in the world..

But the English do not know what surprise is. No one ever turns his head to look at anyone else in the street..

But that was the best time of my life, and only now that it has gone from me forever -- only now do I realize it..

I think of a writer as a river: you reflect what passes before you..

My tidiness, and my untidiness, are full of regret and remorse and complex feelings..

Italy is a country which is willing to submit itself to the worst governments. It is, as we know, a country ruled by disorder, cynicism, incompetence….

Over my real sorrows I never weep..

Every day silence harvests its victims. Silence is a mortal illness..

Today, as never before, the fates of men are so intimately linked to one another that a disaster for one is a disaster for everybody..

We become adolescents when the words that adults exchange with one another become intelligible to us..

As far as the education of children is concerned I think they should be taught not the little virtues but the great ones. Not thrift but generosity a….

My vocation is to write and I have known this for a long time. I hope I won't be misunderstood; I know nothing about the value of the things I am abl….

As soon as we see our dreams betrayed we realize that the intensest joys of our life have nothing to do with reality, and we are consumed with regret….

When I write stories I am like someone who is in her own country, walking along streets that she has known since she was a child, between walls and t….

Being moderate with oneself and generous with others; this is what is meant by having a just relationship with money, by being free as far as money i….

England is a country where people stay exactly as they are. The soul does not receive the slightest jolt..